Seven Ways Everything You Thought You Knew About Losing Fat Was Wrong

You’ll never guess where. This recent study from the University of New South Wales in Australia reveals the precise location of … well, just what makes up all that bass.

1) The study was spearheaded by physicist Ruben Meerman, but not just because he was professionally interested in the topic In The Name of Science. Meerman shed some weight and found himself wondering exactly where the pounds had wandered off to. So he prepared to trace fat at an atom level to satisfy his curiosity.

2) The prevailing notion has been that “melted away” fat was converted to heat, energy, or even muscle. The Law of Conservation of Mass, however, doesn’t exactly back this up.

3) So where does fat go? For the most part, thin air. You exhale the fat you’ve lost.

4) The fat you don’t breathe out is lost via water–sweat, urine, even tears. That means those tee shirts proclaiming that “Sweat Is Just Fat Crying” are more accurate than anyone’s realized.

5) This could revolutionize what we understand about losing “water weight” at the beginning of a diet, especially if you manage to keep those pounds at bay.

6) These findings lend further credence to the theory that weight loss isn’t just a matter of frenetic cardio (although that’s a vital part of staying healthy)– it’s what you eat that’s the “loss leader.”